


remember me in hindsight, tangled up with you all night

by a_dot_burr_ell



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, a post season 1 thing, lawstein - Freeform, previous Hollstein
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-04-13 15:05:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4526676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_dot_burr_ell/pseuds/a_dot_burr_ell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fight with the Dean, Laura is still mourning the loss of Carmilla when Lafontaine concludes that Lophii isn't dead. Fleeing the campus with many of the other students, Lafontaine and Perry take Laura across the mountains leaving Danny behind. With the Summer Society trying to hold the campus together, Danny makes an incredible discovery when a routine trip for supplies lands Danny at the bottom of the crater beneath the Lustig.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_"So a completely unexpected thing just happened... We won. We actually won... We won. And Carmilla's dead."_ Laura's voice hitches on the word.

Danny sighed. She remembers this. It was right after they'd defeated the remnants of the Dean's vampire army and climbed out of the pit with all the survivors. Danny hears a brief clicking and then she can hear her own voice coming from the speakers as her roommate starts the next video.

“What are you watching those for?” Danny asks, closing the book she was reading and sitting up from her bed.

Elsie sits at the desk in the middle of the room, one leg pulled up on the computer chair, the other moving the computer chair back and forth. When she hears Danny’s question, Elsie hit the pause button and swivels the chair around. “Mel wants all the information we can get before our recon mission but my memory from that time is so foggy that I figured that the videos be a good refresher.”

“Stop saying ‘recon’ like we’re going into battle.” Danny replied with a slight bite to her tone. We’ve already gone to battle, Danny wants to say but stops short. “Can you just put on some head phones or something?”

She doesn’t want to hear everyone explaining what had happened next. Fighting the Dean’s vampires until the anglerfish began to rise, the light taking over and drawing them all in until Carmilla arrived, sword in hand, to jump to her death. It was a sight that she’d dreamed about in the three weeks since that night and it was something Danny was sure that she’d never forget.

“I’m just about done anyways.” Elsie stated, clicking out of the browser. “We know for sure that the aftershocks started a day after the fight and they’ve continued pretty regularly. And I know that one science nerd got some computer program to translate the big scary book and-.”

“Lafontaine and J.P.!” Danny huffed, slamming her book on to the counter.

“Yeah, them!” Elsie nodded, opening a draw and pulled out a chocolate bar. “It would have been nice of them to stick around after they figured out that the stupid fish was still alive but your girlfriend just had to take the only nerd that knows what’s up at this school.”

“Laura is _not_ my girlfriend!” Danny snapped.

Elsie grimaced. “Right, sorry, Lawrence. That’s one of the fuzzy things.”

“It’s fine.” Danny sighed, sinking back into her pillows. “And besides, Laura didn’t want to be here anymore after what happened. I can’t say I blame them for leaving.”

“Well, either way. I’m just saying that it’s too bad.” Elsie shrugged. “But lucky for them, they were able to get out before the snow closed the passes. Not so lucky for the rest of us…”

Donny knew what she meant. Laura, Lafontaine and Perry had evacuated with the first round of students and faculty to leave after the quakes started. Laura had asked Danny to go with them, maybe even begged her, but Danny knew that Laura was still in mourning and that her presence with The younger girl would not help the process. So Danny had sent Laura off with her friends and a promise to have the campus under control when the new semester started. But no longer than three days after they’d left, the snow had started falling so heavily that the roads into the campus closed and supplies weren’t making it in. Top that with the earthquakes that were increasing in intensity, causing the campus to crumble while their remaining supplies dwindled, and they were all pretty much screwed.

“Yeah, well, that’s why we should get moving on the supply run.” Danny said, swinging her legs to the floor and grabbing a hair tie from her shelf. She gathered her hair into a ponytail and pulled it tight. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Danny didn’t wait for a reply before leaving the room, heading down the stairs to find around twenty of her sisters gearing up for their expedition. Mel was in the center of the room, barking orders as usual, but Danny ignored her as she grabbed her own supplies. It looked to be canvas bags for filling with whatever supplies they found, a length of rope, and a flashlight. Shouldering the bag, Danny wound the rope around her torso and clipped the flashlight to her belt.

“Nice of you to finally join us, Lawrence.” Mel sniped, slinging her own bag over her back.

Danny ignored the jibe. “Are we going, or what? Because we’re burning daylight.”

“You’re right.” Mel smirked before turning to the group. “We are not here to comment on Lawrence’s incompetence! Summers, let’s go before we lose the light!”

Danny rolled her eyes but moved with everyone else. Mel liked to think she was a shoe in for Society President so she’d begun ordering all the sisters around since they’d lost their current society president during one of the earliest building collapses. There may have been a time not too long ago that Mel’s challenges would have been met easily and answered with sarcastic comments, but lately there was just no fun in lobbying for president with the other girl these days.

Elsie jogged up beside Danny, blonde hair now pulled back into a bun and sunglasses on her face. “She acts as if she’s already won. But you never know, I could come up from behind and steal it from the both of you.”

Danny guffawed. “Hey, you two can battle it out as long as you leave me in peace.”

“Are you pulling out of the running?” Elsie paused.

“No.” Danny shook her head. “I just want to focus on surviving this winter and making it to the next semester.”

“Yeah.” Elsie agreed as they came up to their destination. “Surviving until next semester would be nice.”

The group paused as they came to the end of the street. The Lustig building was no longer visible beneath the remains of the half dozen buildings that had succumbed to the widening crater. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust from where the buildings had disintegrated while the rest was covered in the snow that had fallen the night before. The floor was all mud from where the dust and snow runoff had melted together and everything had a slight smell of rotting fish.

“Okay!” Mel hopped onto a chunk of concrete so she was standing above everyone. “Let’s head as far in as we can and work our way back.”

“Remember, our priority is food and medical supplies.” Danny added loudly, not needing to join Mel on the concrete slab to get everyone’s attention thanks to her height. “The nurse’s station and the east campus dining hall were closest to the Lustig so anything that survived will be closest to the crater.”

“I was just getting to that, Lawrence.” Mel scowled, jumping down from her perch. “Alright, everybody, move out!”

Danny fought back her urge to retort, simply shaking her head and walking away. She wasn’t in the mood for Mel’s digs when there was work to be done. Danny made a beeline for the crater, watching where she stepped since every few feet there was broken glass, mud, and crumbling brick. 

The group made its way to their targets, half of the group heading for the dining hall to scavenge what they could, while Danny and the others sifted through debris to collect dusty anti-bacteria wipes and packets of Tylenol. They searched for over an hour, filling their canvas bags with anything that might be useful as they limped towards the spring semester.

“Hey, Danny!” Elsie called from the lip of the crater.

Danny looked up from where she was digging to see Elsie peering over the edge. She got up and wandered over to the blonde, staying a good three feet from the edge. “What are you doing over there? We’re supposed to be filling up the bags.”

“Oh, I know.” Elsie shrugged, moving her sunglasses to the top of her head for a better look. “But I think I see something shiny down there. What do you think?”

Danny stepped closer to the edge, hesitating to look over the side. She really didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to remember the last time she’d approached the edge, when the hypnotic pull of the light was drawing all of them to their deaths. But Elsie was staring intently down into the darkness and Danny knew that her roommate wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“What am I supposed to be looking for?” Danny sighed, squinting into the darkness.

“Right there!” Elsie pointed. “Do you see that?”

“I don’t really see anything…” Danny admitted, glancing back at her friend.

“Don’t you see that thing glint-?” Elsie cut herself off, turning towards Danny, eyes wide. “Did you feel that?”

“Was that a tremor?” Danny stepped back from the edge, her heart beginning to race.

Any answer was drowned out by a screeching that rose out of the pit. Danny threw her hands over her ears to block the sound and saw that the few girls that were nearby did the same. As the screaming subsided, Danny felt the ground began to shake violently. From over the noise, Danny heard several people shouting.

“Earthquake!”

“Don’t forget the supplies!”

“ _Run_!”

“We need to get out of here!” Danny shouted, struggling to stay upright. "We're too close to the edge!"

Everywhere, Danny’s sisters were trying to steady themselves or run for higher ground. Elsie grabbed her bag and stumbled forwards. It was difficult to make it more than a few feet with the world pitching under them but Elsie was able to make it out of the Lustig ruins and join the others before the shaking became too much and the ground began cracking and falling away.

Danny tried to follow but the ground was no longer holding her weight. She tried to find something to hold onto, a root, a piece of rebar, anything, but the only thing around was dirt and rock. She tried to call out for help but the air was thick with dust and all Danny could do was begin coughing violently. With nothing to hold onto, Danny fell back into the crater, the rumbling of the earth and the unholy roaring of the anglerfish ringing in her ears.

~~~

“ _Hey! Get up_!”

There was a voice calling out to her but it sounded distorted, as if the person was calling out to her from underwater. There was, however, something familiar about the voice that she couldn't place. It sounded angry, for sure, but the Danny could almost recognize the low, throaty, voice... Mel, maybe? Mel was often angry at Danny for the littlest things.

“ _Did you hear me? I said get UP!!”_

Danny wanted to respond to the voice and tell them to shut the hell up because, the longer they talked, the louder they seems to get until she could also hear rumbling and feel herself shaking. Or was it someone shaking her?

"-the creeping hell do you think you're doing down here, Xena?!" The voice called again, louder now.

Danny's eyes flew open as soon as she recognized the voice. Carmilla, the vampire that had leapt to her death, was crouched near Danny’s head. When she saw that Danny had opened her eyes, she huffed.

“Freaking finally! Now get up and move. I think it’s coming!” Carmilla shouted, glancing nervously over her shoulder.

“What the hell-?” Danny struggled to sit up and immediately became nauseous and the world began to spin. “Oh, god. I think I’m gonna barf.”

“Well, hold it in until you get out of here!” Carmilla snapped at her, standing back while Danny struggled to get up.

The redhead staggered to her feet but as soon as she was standing, her head began to pound. Reaching a hand to the source of her pain, Danny felt a wet spot in her hair and knew immediately that she was bleeding. It was probably a concussion; a really bad one if she was hallucinating dead vampires. The thought made her nauseous again.

"Oh, crap." Danny mumbled, her legs giving out.

"Woah, watch it, red!" Carmilla snapped, making like she was going to steady Danny until the taller girl managed to stay on her feet. "Are you good? Because I need you on both feet so that we can get out of here!"

The world was spinning again and Danny was having a hard time processing what Carmilla was saying. "Wait. Get out of where? Why? And how are you alive right now?"

"You're at the bottom of the crater, genius! You need to get out of here because Lophiiformes is trying to break through and, honestly, I don't even know about that last thing." Carmilla replied, running a hand through her dark hair.

"Yeah, but-." Danny was cut off when another rumble filled the cavern.

"Now is not the time, red! Will you get a move on?!" Carmilla snapped again, storming away from her.

"Where are we going?" Danny asked, stumbling a bit as she tore after her.

"This part of the crater collapsed so you'll be able to climb up without a problem." Carmilla said, leading Danny to the foot of the collapsed wall. "Now, go before it gets any closer!"

Danny tried to start climbing but everything was spinning so best that she could do was cling to the rubble and try not to pass out again. The anglerfish screamed again and Danny slid back down to the bottom trying to cover her ears until it stopped.

Carmilla groaned. "Come on! I thought you'd have more coordination than this."

"It's a little hard to move with a concussion, you know!" Danny shot back, beginning to move again. As she looked back, Danny saw Carmilla pacing at the bottom. "Are you coming or what?"

Carmilla locked eyes with her and nodded. "I'm right behind you."

Danny nodded and returned to her task. The creature's cry seemed to have cleared her head a bit and now it was easier to to find her footing. She took her time on the way up, not wanting to chance sliding down to the bottom again. The climb got harder as she neared the top, but Carmilla was right behind her, egging her on.

"I can almost reach the top!" Danny shouted, trying to pull herself up. The last brick she'd hoped was stable to hold her weight was loose and she nearly lost her grip.

"Watch where you're grabbing!" The vampire yelled angrily from behind her.

"I'm trying!" Danny retorted, trying to look for another solid piece. "But there's nothing to grab-!"

" _Gotcha_!"

Elsie reaching over the ledge and grabbing Danny's wrist, pulling her up. "I got you, Lawrence! Just hold on!"

"Elsie!" Danny gasped. "What the hell are you doing? I thought you'd gotten out!"

Elsie's face was screwed up in concentration as she pulled. "I did. But a few of us came back to look for you as soon as the earthquake stopped."

With one final tug, Danny was over the side and back on solid ground. The redhead collapsed onto the floor, thoroughly exhausted from her climb. She could see that the sky had darkened considerably since her fall and she briefly wondered how long she'd been out. Danny reached her hand behind her head to check the head wound, hissing in pain when her fingers come in contact with the injury.

"Shit, that looks bad." Elsie commented, taking a seat beside her.

"It is. But I can wait until you pull Carmilla up." Danny stated, feeling the blood drip down her neck. "Then I think I might need a couple of stitches."

"Carmilla? That vampire that died trying to kill the anglerfish?" Elsie asked, confused.

"Yeah, she was down in the pit and she helped me up here!" Danny explained, scrambling to the edge. "Hang on, fang face, we're gonna get you out-!"

Danny stopped talking when she realized that Carmilla wasn't behind her. Danny looked to see if the vampire had slid back down to the bottom but there was no trace of her there either.

"Get over here, dead girl! You were the one who wanted to leave!" Danny shouted, her eyes darting back and forth.

"Danny, there was no one else with you." Elsie said, trying to pull Danny back from the edge.

"Yes, there was! Carmilla was down there. She woke me up after I fell and dragged me to the edge of this thing. She was right behind me the whole way up!" Danny explained before trying to call out for the vampire again. "Carmilla!"

There was no answer and Danny was starting to get worried. She was sure that Carmilla had been right behind her but now the vampire was nowhere in sight. Danny knew from Laura's videos that vampires had several powers, was the ability to disappear without a trace one of them? She wasn't sure.

"Danny..." Elsie started, looking worried. "I saw over the edge of this thing and there was no one behind you, I promise."

Danny was about to argue when another wave of pain emanating from her head demanded her attention. She could feel the blood start to dripping faster and felt the nausea return. "Ugh!"

"Look, Danny, you hit your head. You may not know what you were seeing!" Elsie said seriously. "You can come back and look again when the sun's back."

Danny ran a hand against her injury again. It was true that she needed to get checked out sooner rather than later. She looked back to see the worried glances Elsie was giving her and sighed.

"Fine, lets go." Danny mumbled, allowing herself to be pulled along.

She'd go home, get herself stitched up, and return in the morning. But next time, she wouldn't leave until she'd tracked down that vampire and figured out what the hell she'd been doing all this time.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny's sneakers hit the ground at the bottom of the pit with a crunch that seemed to echo around her. She froze at the bottom, her heart beating rapidly in her chest, eyes cutting back and forth to see if anything had stirred in response to her noisy entrance. When nothing moved, Danny let out a sigh of relief. It was to be expected that she was on edge since she’d snuck out of her room at two a.m. to wander around the campus.

She'd planned on returning here the morning after her fall and exploring in the day time but Danny hadn't counted on Elsie keeping her up all night to stave off a coma followed by a full day dealing with the consequences of the latest quake. By the time she'd found a minute to herself, it had been late afternoon and she was exhausted. A brief, afternoon nap had turned into sleeping for seven hours straight and, although searching during the day had its merits, there was this sense of urgency that Danny couldn't quite shake.

So armed with a flashlight and a length of rope, Danny had slipped out of the house and back towards the crater. It had taken longer than usual to reach, the latest round of earthquakes had caused more devastation that reached out from the pit like some kind of creeping infection. Thankfully, an exposed pipe provided a stable anchor for her to tie some rope to and she was able to propel down the side of the crater with ease. It also left her a quick way to climb back up in case there was a need for a quick escape.

It was darker in the pit than it had been street level; the moonlight not strong enough to reach all the way to the bottom. The flashlight she’s swiped from the supply closet didn’t seem to have the strongest batteries either, the light seeming duller than it had been when she’d left her room. It was bigger than she remembered, the floor sloping downward until it became a cavern of sorts, and it definitely had the creepy vibe down, reminding Danny of documentaries she'd seen about the bottom of the ocean

Deciding that she may as well investigate, she let the flashlight lead the way ahead of her but it only illuminated about ten feet in front of her, letting the rest of the area dissolve into shadows. The farther she went, the more Danny couldn't imagine anyone wanting to stay in a place like this for very long. But, who knows? Maybe vampires were a different story.

"I wouldn't go any further if I were you, beanstalk." Carmilla’s voice came from behind her.

“Ah!” Danny screamed, nearly jumping out if her skin. She pivoted to face the other girl, her fear subsiding into annoyance. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Carmilla was standing a few feet away, snickering. “Did I scare you, Xena?”

“Only because someone decided to sneak up on me!” Danny scowled, her breathing returning to normal. "Can you not just appear out of thin air!?"

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought you Society types were ready for anything."

“Well, I'm new to this supernatural stuff.” Danny retorted, her arms dropping from the defensive position they were in. "Until last semester, you all were polite enough to hide it from the general population.”

“Forgive me if I was a little preoccupied making sure that all you and your friends didn’t become this years’ round of fish food.” Carmilla shot back, balling her hand into fists.

Danny was about to respond to the vampire’s mocking when Carmilla continued, her voice dropping the antagonistic tone. “Speaking of which… Where is she?”

“Who?” Danny asked, caught off guard by the sudden change in conversation.

“Who do you think I’m talking about, genius?” Carmilla rolled her eyes, gaining back her snarky tone. When Danny still didn’t answer, Carmilla huffed. “Laura?!”

“Oh! Laura…” Danny trailed off, shifting her weight uncomfortably.

“I hope you told her to stay at the dorms.” Carmilla said, shoving her hands into her pockets. “I mean, I know she doesn’t really like hearing the word ‘no’ but there’s bravery and then there’s just plain old stupidity.”

It was hard to miss the eagerness in Carmilla’s voice as she spoke about Laura. Danny remembered that feeling from the beginning of the semester. Not that she still felt that way. Danny had gotten over how Laura had treated her and, in the week after the battle, had even begun growing closer as friends. Carmilla was barely paying attention to Danny so she used the time to discreetly study the vampire.

Carmilla was still wearing the same thing Danny remembered her wearing when they’d met in Laura’s dorm room; leather pants and boots, studded wrist cuffs, and a black lace shirt. The only difference between then and now was that there was a tear in Carmilla’s shirt near the shoulder, her dark hair was tangled and mussed, and there were numerous half-healed scratches on her arms and face from the Dean’s animal form attack. She looked like she’d hardly recovered from the attack. Now how was Danny supposed to tell Carmilla that Laura had thought she was dead and vacated the campus? Would it hurt the older girl to know that Laura had left? Or would it mean something that Laura had left because she was in pain over Carmilla’s supposed demise?

“Listen, Carmilla…” Danny started, unsure of where to start.

Carmilla must have picked up on the hesitance in her tone because the vampire’s eyes narrowed. “What now?”

Figuring that she may as well get it over with, Danny let everything out in a rush. “Laura isn’t at Silas anymore. She left for break and, honestly, I’m not sure if she’s coming back. We can try to contact her once the snow clears but for now, I think she’s out of communication range and-.”

“Whoa! Whoa! Slow down, gigantor!” Carmilla interrupted, waving her arms in Danny’s face to stop her word vomit. Lowering her arms when she was sure Danny wasn’t going to start rambling again, Carmilla continued. “Good. Now use slightly less words and try again.”

“Laura left campus.” Danny said seriously, watching Carmilla’s reaction. The vampire blinked in surprise and Danny could see hurt and confusion pass over her face. Figuring there was no reason to sugar coat it, Danny pushed on. “Lafontaine and Perry wanted to leave after they found out the anglerfish wasn’t dead and Laura decided to go with them.”

“She left?” Carmilla asked. Danny didn't want to admit how much the question sounded alarmingly like ‘ _she left me?’_

“Er, well…” Danny muttered, watching Carmilla turn away.

The vampire walked slowly around the cave until she reached the edge, sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest. It made Danny incredibly uncomfortable to see Carmilla looking so small. This was the vampire that had required seven people and another vampire to take down, the girl who was barely taller than Laura and yet had no problem reaching up and strangling Danny, the vampire who had wielded a mythical sword to try and take down an ancient monster, successful or not. Danny felt compelled to explain.

“Hey, look…” Danny started, walking the few steps to bridge the gap between them. “We thought you died. You jumped and then everyone kind of snapped out of that creepy trance. Some of us were injured so we booked it out of there, we didn’t think anyone could survive at the bottom of this thing.”

“Didn’t any of you morons think to check down here?” Carmilla asked, annoyed. “I mean, did it really only take twenty-four hours for the cupcake to decide that I was a lost cause and flee the country?”

“Wait, what do you mean ’twenty-four hours’?” Danny asked, completely lost by Carmilla’s statement.

“Okay, maybe I was out for longer than a day, but the point still stands.” Carmilla shot back. She searched Danny’s face before snapping. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Danny spoke slowly. “Laura left campus over two weeks ago.”

“What?!” Carmilla exclaimed, getting to her feet.

“Yeah, and the fight was over a week before that.” Danny continued, frowning in thought. How could she not know how long it had been?

"There's no way I’ve been down here for that long!" Carmilla shook her head, her fists clenching again. “Check your calendar again!”

Danny ignored the dig and asked what she'd been meaning to since Elsie had pulled her out. "Yeah, while we're on the subject, why did you stay down here? You said you were right behind me!"

"I was!" Carmilla exclaimed angrily. There was a brief pause like Carmilla was trying to remember something. "I was right behind you and then-."

Danny watched as the anger drained out of her and was replaced by confusion. "And then, what?"

"I-. I don't-." Carmilla stammered, her gaze darting back and forth like she was trying to remember something before meeting Danny's eyes. "I don't remember."

That answer took Danny off guard. "What do you mean, 'you don't remember'?"

"I mean that I remember climbing up the side and then..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "I don't know. There's nothing.

“There can’t just be nothing.” Danny pushed, trying to sort through her own thoughts on the matter. She had no idea why Carmilla couldn’t remember anything but Danny was determined to find out the truth. It was why she’d come back down here, after all. “What were you doing before you woke me up?”

“I think I woke up when Nemo started to scream and I felt the earthquake start. Then I saw you fall and I got you up…” Carmilla trailed off.

“We ran to the edge-.” Danny supplied.

“Some of us more steadily than others.” Carmilla muttered.

“ _And_ you were right behind me when we started to climb.” Danny continued doggedly, rolling her eyes. “Then what?”

“How should I know? Maybe I fell.” Carmilla suggested sarcastically, the look on her face daring Danny to come up with a better answer.

“And you were unconscious the whole day?” Danny responded skeptically.

“What are you talking about? I saw you a couple of hours ago, at most!” Carmilla scoffed, crossing her arms.

“That was over a day ago!” Danny stated, feeling like they were getting nowhere. “I would have been back the next morning but there were some problems we had to take care of. What were you doing before you stopped me from going further down the slope?"

"I was-." Carmilla broke off, her hands flying to her head as if she was in pain. "Agh!"

"What’s going on?" Danny asked, concerned. Even when everyone had ambushed her, Carmilla had never shown any indication of pain. Now she was holding her head as if afraid it would split open and was nearly doubled over. “Come on, dead girl. Are you okay?”

Hearing Danny’s question, Carmilla snapped back up. She was glaring at Danny with a look of disdain fit for a three hundred year old vampire, making Danny take an involuntary step backwards. "Do I look okay to you?" She sneered, her voice getting louder.

There was a small rumble from deeper in the pit that caused Danny’s pulse to quicken. "Carmilla, calm down!" Danny said warningly, taking another step back.

“Calm down? How about we see how calm you are after finding out that there are some gaping holes in your memory!” Carmilla shouted, throwing her hands out to push Danny back.

Danny threw up her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, expecting to be thrown back due to the vampire’s super strength, but no attack came. Instead there was an angry growl, a loud ‘oof’ and then silence. Opening her eyes, Danny was slightly confused when she did not see an angry vampire standing in front of her. Lowering her arms from their defensive position, Danny used redirected the flashlight and quickly scanned around the cave, finding Carmilla on the floor directly behind her.

“What the hell is going on?” Carmilla growled, as Danny shined the flashlight in her direction.

“What are you talking about?” Danny asked cautiously, watching as Carmilla got shakily to her feet.

“I’m talking, you useless slim jim, about this.” Carmilla spat, waving her arm towards Danny’s abdomen.

Instead of feeling the vampire's hand make contact with her stomach, Danny watched in shock as Carmilla's arm passed right through her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm already working on the next chapter so I'll try and shoot for next Friday.


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh my GOD!” Carmilla shouted, pacing frantically.  
  
“Calm down.” Danny said, tugging at her hair anxiously.

“Calm down? Really, beanstalk!?” Carmilla exclaimed angrily. “You try realizing you’re a freaking ghost and tell me how calm you’d be!”  
  
The ground rumbled slightly and Danny felt her heartbeat quicken. “I just thought we could try and keep it down so that the giant fish doesn’t kill us!” Danny stage whispered, shooting a glance over her shoulder into the darkness.  
  
Carmilla's head swiveled around to the looming darkness, her eyes widening slightly. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Danny could tell that the vampire was making a conscious effort to try and stay calm. “Fine, what do you suggest?”  
  
“Uh…” Danny mumbled, thinking. It was hard to figure out a plan while they were at the bottom of a creepy pit with an angry demi-god close by. “Maybe we should try and relocate; it might be a little easier to figure things out.”  
  
“I don’t know…” Carmilla said, her head tilted back towards the sky.  
  
“What? Why?” Danny asked, puzzled by Carmilla’s hesitance. “I thought you would be dying to get out of here.”  
  
“Oh, ha ha.” Carmilla said mockingly.  
  
Danny realized her poor choice of words. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that I thought you’d be in a hurry to get out of here.”  
  
Carmilla shook her head. “I am. Something just feels weird.”

“All the more reason to get out of here.” Danny said.

Carmilla considered this. “Fine, lead the way, stretch.”

Danny led the two of them to the wall, reaching the point with the gentlest slope. Carmilla began the climb first, carefully placing her hands and feet, as if she wasn't sure if her limbs would phase right through the side. Assured that she could actually grip the wall, Carmilla pushed herself forward. Danny watched in confusion as she climbed, some of the rock and dirt becoming dislodged and rolling down. Wondering if this meant that Carmilla was solid again, Danny reached out and tried to touch the vampire's arm. When her hand was again met with nothing, she frowned.

"Okay, what the hell?" Danny asked, completely confused.  
  
Carmilla didn’t even seem to notice, continuing her climbing. They had reached the end of the slope and Danny was reaching for the rope she’d tied to the top. Carmilla didn’t seem to need the extra help, and Danny chalked it up to her vampire strength. They reached the lip of the cave, and Danny watched as Carmilla put one hand over the edge and-.  
  
The vampire was thrown off the wall as if she’d been pushed, tumbling to the floor.  
  
“Oh, shi-!” Danny cursed, sliding down the wall as carefully as possible.  
  
She reached the floor and saw Carmilla on the ground. Danny rushed over to the fallen girl, stopping short when she shined the light on her and saw Carmilla flickering in and out like the picture on an old TV. Carmilla got to her feet, looking more unsteady than before, and glanced at her hands in horror.  
  
Once the shock of seeing Carmilla flicker in and out of existence had worn off, Danny had hovered nearby while the vampire begun ranting. Danny wasn’t to make out too much since Carmilla was shouting in rapid German, but she was able to pick out words like ‘curse’, ‘mother’, and ‘when I get my hands on her’. Carmilla had taken to pacing around the cave like a caged animal as she shouted, ignoring Danny’s attempts to shush her.  
  
“There has to be some explanation for this.” Danny said, taking a seat on the ground. She was tired of watching Carmilla circle around her like a cat.  
  
“Of course there’s an explanation for this!” Carmilla spat, rounding on Danny. “My mother must have done something to me! Punishment for killing her, I suppose.”

“Do you really think she had time to-?” Danny started but Carmilla wasn’t listening.

“This is like the coffin all over again…” She muttered darkly, her eyes widening and beginning to dart around the area. “I need to get out of here!”

Carmilla’s voice was filled with panic and Danny couldn’t help remembering that she’d once called Carmilla’s past as a soppy sob story, dismissing the fact that she’d been imprisoned for the better part of a century. Now it seemed as if Carmilla’s mother had trapped her a second time.  
  
Danny watched as Carmilla’s breathing picked up to the point of hyperventilation. Her hands went into her head, tangling into her dark curls, her eyes staring past Danny to some unseen horror. It was immediately apparent that Carmilla was spiraling into some kind of panic attack so Danny jumped to her feet.

Carmilla had leaned forward and her hair was falling forward so Danny instinctively tried to place a hand on her shoulder, gasping when it went straight through the shorter girl. “Right, that won’t work… What can I do?”

Carmilla went quiet. “I doubt there’s anything you can do…”

“How can you say that?” Danny asked, her voice low. “We’ll just have to find another way to get you out of here.”

“You don’t understand.” Carmilla said desperately. “I felt it, just now. When I got pulled away from the exit. And I… I don’t know… Flickered? I don’t know how to describe it, but I could just feel how disconnected I really was. And the farther I went, the more I felt like I was ‘here’ and more like I was fading. When I was flickering, I was panicking, just focusing on trying to make it stop.”

“Well, whatever you did, it worked.” Danny said, letting her eyes roam over the other girl.

Carmilla shook her head. “It took a lot of effort. Too much. You have no idea how easy it would have been to just let go. Maybe I should….”   


"Oh hell no! You're here, back from the freaking dead for a second time! You can't seriously be considering giving up!" Danny protested, fists clenched at her sides. 

Carmilla’s head snapped up in response. “Well what do you suggest I do, Xena? What kind of un-life do you propose? Stuck down here, willing myself to exist for every goddamn second of eternity?"  
  
“Not for eternity. Just long enough for me to figure something out.” Danny said, her mind made up.  
  
“What?” Carmilla asked in disbelief.   
  
“I'm telling you. Stay alive, or as a ghost, or whatever. Just stay this way long enough for me to do some research. With the library still functioning and those alchemy freaks running around I'm sure I can figure something out.” Danny told her, headed for the mouth of the cave.   
  
“I don't know if I can. Who knows how long that will take-?” Carmilla argued, trailing behind her.   
  
“Just do it until tomorrow, alright? I'll be back at sundown.” Danny promised, turning to face the vampire. “Can you hold on until then?”   
  
Carmilla took in the determined look in the redhead's eyes and sighed. “Alright. Tomorrow.”  
  
“Good. I'll be back.”Danny nodded, climbing fast. She had some research to do. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on a prompt from tumblr user sharonbelle about ghost!Carmilla. I don't know long I'm expecting this to be I hope everyone enjoys it.


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